


Prompt: Opposites

by EssayOfThoughts



Series: MCU Maximoff Oneshots [13]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Powers Swap, Codependency, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-21
Updated: 2015-12-21
Packaged: 2018-05-08 01:53:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5478920
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EssayOfThoughts/pseuds/EssayOfThoughts
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pietro’s blue is a darting thing, weaving through the air around them. His eyes shine with it when he focusses on an especially difficult trick, and he delights in teasing Wanda with it, tugging her shawl this way and that, or gently pulling on her hair.</p><p>Wanda’s speed is red, like a thread of silk behind her, and it has darkened her hair, brought out the red like father’s had been in photographs, before he had gone so grey.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Prompt: Opposites

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for a prompt, readable on my tumblr [Here](http://essayofthoughts.tumblr.com/post/135606052240/prompt-they-have-the-others-canon-powers-wanda). Comments are always welcome.

**i.**  
Pietro’s blue is a darting thing, weaving through the air around them. His eyes shine with it when he focusses on an especially difficult trick, and he delights in teasing Wanda with it, tugging her shawl this way and that, or gently pulling on her hair.

Wanda’s speed is red, like a thread of silk behind her, and it has darkened her hair, brought out the red like father’s had been in photographs, before he had gone so grey. Before he had died. The speed makes it hard for Wanda to concentrate, everything around her slow, and her mind so fast, so Pietro anchors it with ropes of blue, branches from the tree of his mind growing into hers and holding it in place.

 _I would have thought_ , Pietro sends one evening,  _This to be your power, and yours mine_. But it is not so, and Wanda flicks his ear gently with her speed and they laugh.

 

* * *

 

 **ii.**  
Pietro still tries to protect her, now her speed sends her spinning faster than he can keep up, and outside the reach of his bright bright blue.  _You don’t need to_ , Wanda sends down their bridge.  _Nothing can catch me now_. Wanda can feel her brother’s sigh. 

 _Bullets,_  he sends.  _One almost nicked you. I_ **always** _notice when something almost hurt you, you know that._

Wanda shrugs.  _I will dodge them_ , she promises.  _And I will watch for them, and I promise I will get faster._

Pietro tugs her to him and presses a kiss to her blood-brown hair.  _Do,_  he sends.  _I don’t know what I would do if you were hurt._ Wanda’s chuckle is clear in both mind and air. 

 _Hurt them back?_  

Pietro nuzzles at her hair.  _Yes_ , he sends.  _Or let you do it if you could. You are much more inventive than me._

 

* * *

 

 **iii.**  
Training is hard, and Pietro hates the day they test to see if they can use their gifts to heal. It is not easy for him to knit flesh back together with his power, but he can hold a wound shut while a doctor sews it up so there is that. Wanda’s speed heals scratches and cuts in moments, and broken bones in a matter of minutes.

He cannot help but hate how they test for that.

 

* * *

 

 **iv.**  
_I **hate**  them_, Pietro sends that evening, curled around Wanda like a shield. Her hand is still broken - for the twentieth time that day - but it is healing painfully now, and he presses the lightest of kisses to her fingers.

Wanda’s uninjured hand strokes down his face.  _I’ll heal,_  she sends,  _and then we’ll be strong enough to kill Stark. That is all we need them for._

Pietro nuzzles gently into her touch, and holds her closer.

 

* * *

 

 **v.**  
When the Avengers come to bring their fight it is Pietro who wants to run and fight, and send his blue startling into each of them. It is Wanda who holds him back, holds him back until she sees the quiet discussion of Strucker and List, and runs with him into the woods. 

 _Can you carry me that long?_  he asks and Wanda shifts her grip. 

 _We can switch to piggy back if this is too tiring_ , she sends,  _but the speed has given me strength enough to carry you, I think._

She watches him send blue to catch an arrow and fling it back towards the archer, before a fallen comm sends them tearing back. 

 _Stark_ , Pietro thinks,  _In **here** , Wanda we can-_

 _Hurt him_ , Wanda thinks, and sets her brother in the shadows of the room.

Pietro reaches a hand out, blue playing around his fingertips and then-

 _Or_ , he sends.  _Wanda, remember the fear traini_ _ng?_ There is a blink of scarlet in his mind and Pietro smiles.  _Do you remember how you suggested making nightmares?_  he says, and twists his fingers.

 

* * *

 

 **vi.  
**_Look_ , Pietro sends.  _Oh, Wanda,_ _ **look**_ , and he tugs her down their bond to watch Stark’s mind take fear and make a thought wholly nightmare. Beside him Wanda is smiling, her thoughtform’s hand in his.

 _Let him take it_ , she thinks.  _With it’s power and his nightmare…_

The realisation rises in Pietro’s mind in a wave of cerulean,  _He will destroy himself_. His blue makes a dancing smile around them, and Wanda’s scarlet weaves through. _Oh, that will be_ **wonderful**.

 

* * *

 

 **vii.**  
When Stark takes the sceptre Wanda’s hand tightens around her brother’s. “To town,” she whispers, and Pietro nods. They are gone in a wave of scarlet, and find shelter amongst the crumbling ruins at the edge of the city.

“What now?” Pietro asks. “Do you want to stay here? Go somewhere else?”

Wanda smiles. “You can chose too. But I would like to help the city.”

Pietro’s hand is warm around hers. “We help the city then.”

 

* * *

 

 **viii.**  
When word comes of an iron man staying in the church, they do not know what to believe.  _I go first_ , sends Pietro.

 _No, I do_ , sends Wanda.  _I am faster, I can get us out sooner_.

 _I protect **you** ,_ Pietro insists, and Wanda’s hand closes around his.

 _Not anymore_ , she says.  _I go first. Tell me if you feel Stark’s mind_.

Wanda runs them to the church, and in her arms Pietro shakes his head.  _No one there_ , he sends. 

Wanda sets him down outside, and runs in herself, a quick circuit and back out.

“Pietro,” she says. “You  _have_  to see this.”

 

* * *

 

 **viii.**  
The man is made of metal, yes, but not the garish red and glistening gold of Stark’s armour. He is, he says, Ultron, and wishes to destroy the Avengers. Pietro’s hand in Wanda’s is clenched tight and trembling, and Wanda is wary still. 

 _Should we?_  He asks, and Wanda nods.

_We may never have this chance again._

 

* * *

 

 **ix.**  
It is not pleasant working with Ultron, but his chatter is a simple enough distraction, and Wanda does not mind stretching her speed faster and faster as Pietro’s blue dances around them. Some evenings Pietro seems tired after going into other minds, and Wanda sits with him, lets him rest his head in her lap and combs her fingers through his hair.

“Are you alright?” she asks, and keeps her voice soft. Mind-to-mind after so much work could cause a headache, and she would not wish that on him now.

Pietro smiles and stretches his hand up to touch her cheek.  _I’ll be fine. Just. Every mind with so much **noise**._  He sends memories of them, loud and chattering or chirping like birds, or barking like dogs, or the sound of the streets filled with cars and children and riots and police.  _I wish they were as quiet as yours_.

Wanda bends, and presses a kiss to her brother’s brow.  _You are always welcome in mine._

 

* * *

 

 **x.**  
Klaue is annoying, but the  _Avengers_ , they are something else, and Wanda does not mind this fight, knowing that it pits her against Stark. Pietro’s footsteps are quiet as he sneaks to each, and sends spiralling blue into their minds, making them fear and quake. Wanda does not mind knocking them down to easier targets for her brother, and he does not mind sending bolts of blue when one targets her scarlet trail.

Then the archer somehow stops her path, and there is pain and that is all. 

 

* * *

 

 **xi.**  
She is leaning half on Pietro as he carries her out, and the fresh air is a balm.

“Bastard,” he whispers, and strokes his fingers across her brow. “I will get him, Wanda, I will get him I  _swear_ -”

Wanda shakes her head. “Hulk,” she murmurs. “Get Hulk. Give me a moment, and I will take you.”

 

* * *

 

 **xii.**  
They do not get to watch all of Hulk’s destruction before Ultron’s drones have scooped them up and reformed into a narrow plane around them. Wanda is curled against her brother, her head still pounding, and Pietro sends soft winds from his mind to hers to try to soothe it. Wanda presses kisses to his hands and speaks.

“Where are we going now?”

“To Seoul,” replies Ultron, out of the one whole voice synthesizer in the mess of parts around them. “To visit a friend.”

 

* * *

 

 **xiii.**  
There is a body in the Cradle, and Wanda watches Pietro send darting blue over and around it.  _Read him?_  Wanda asks and Pietro sends back,  _Trying_ , and then  _Ahah!_

Then there is quiet and a softly said,  _Oh_ **God**.

Wanda is by his side in an instant, hand in his, looking to his face.  _What?_

 _He is…_  Pietro sends an image, and speaks to Ultron, and only Wanda’s speed lets her process both at once.

_He’s insane._

Pietro’s blue is swirling in queasy waves, and Wanda pulls him close.  _We must stop him_ , she sends.  _Stop this body being made, stop the Doctor, stop Ultron. I can-_

 _It is done_ , sends Pietro, and Wanda watches from the corner of her eye as Pietro’s blue cracks the crystal colour in the Doctor’s eyes.

Then all hell breaks loose and they flee to the city.

 

* * *

 

 **xiv.**  
Pietro’s hands are running through his hair, and Wanda has to hold his wrists to stop him tearing it out.  _How could we, oh Wanda, he’s going to- the end of the_ **world** -

 _We must stop him_ , Wanda sends, with soft certainty.  _We chose this together, and now we chose again. We stop him._

Pietro calms, and Wanda lets her swirling scarlet slow from panic to peace. 

“First,” Wanda says, and Pietro finishes for her.

“First, we find the Avengers.”

 

* * *

 

 **xv.**  
_They are mad_ , Pietro sends, and Wanda nods. 

 _As mad as Ultron_.

Pietro almost snorts a laugh.  _Well they made him._

Wanda takes a breath, rocks back on her heel.  _I’m going to stop them_ , she sends and scarlet rings the Cradle and rips every tube and cable clear. When she is done, Pietro is trapped by Banner for… only a moment, as he summons his blue and pulls it through himself to push the doctor away. Wanda watches the man closely, but he does not turn green.

 _Please_ , they think, and think together.  _Please do not do this, you will end the **world**._

 

* * *

 

 **xvi.**  
They do not know what to make of the maroon-magenta creature, and nor, it seems, do the Avengers. Pietro sends the play of their minds to Wanda, shows her _baffled_  and  _confused_  and  _what the ever-loving hell?_

Then the creature lifts a hammer, and everything in the room seems changed.

 

* * *

 

 **xvii.**  
When they arrive in Novi Grad Wanda takes her brother to the church, to the centre of the city, and pours her scarlet into him as he sends blue out to warn the people. Wanda travels with his mind as he does it, gentles a touch that is sometimes too cold and adds her voice to his litany of  _leave leave leave, you must get out and get to safety_.

Then the ground quakes beneath them, and they know that, in this, they have failed.

 

* * *

 

 **xviii.**  
Battle rages, and even with Rogers’ pep talk, Wanda can feel the queasy swirl of her brother’s mind.  _Be strong_ , she sends.  _We have to be. All the people, all of Novi Grad, they rely on us._  Wanda watches as Pietro buries his worry deep, deep within the ocean beneath his tree, and summons up pure blue instead.

 

* * *

 

 **xix.**  
_Barton_ , Wanda sends, and an image of the archer and a child and,  _Look,_  as Ultron brings the jet around. There is a nanosecond of a break and Pietro knows she has considered what to do.  _I’m going to carry them._

There is speeding scarlet around her, a bolder red than the delicate thread that usually follows, and it is easy for Pietro to keep his blue guarding the key in the old church. He can feel her strain, carrying man and child, and gasping for air and  _ **PAIN**_.

Blue spirals out from him, obliterating bots, crashing them against the walls and in his mind  _Wandawandawandawanda sister, my sister, Wanda-_

 _I’m ok._ Her voice is weak, but she follows it with an image of the lifeboat, and medics around her.  _Ankle, knee, thigh and hip. I’ll live_.

Pietro’s deep breaths pull his blue into him. Cold anger replaces desperate, and with sweeping movements he tears what remains of the bots apart to build barricades.  _Sister?_  he sends, and is rewarded by a blink of red from Wanda’s mind.  _When you can run again, tear his heart out._

Scarlet fills his mind in a slash of a smile.

 

* * *

 

 **xx.**  
Wanda’s leg aches after a few minutes, but it is strong enough to run on. She uses an angled lope, to take pressure off the leg where she can, and asks her brother,  _Where?_

Pietro sends a memory, crisp with frost and clear as crystal ice, of where the robot was thrown to, and Wanda makes her beeline.

 

* * *

 

 **xxi.**  
Ultron’s human face has it’s uses, and Wanda almost smiles at the look of surprise he gives to see her well. “Wanda?” he asks.

She inclines her head, just slightly, lets blood-brown hair fall over her shoulder.

“You should leave,” he says. “You’ll die if you stay.”

Wanda  _does_  smile then. “I almost did. Do you know what that would have done to my brother?”

Ultron’s face is tense and shocked as her hand probes through the ribs and ropes of metal in his torso, through vibranium and steel and chrome to find his core. Her hand wraps around it, pulls every cable taut, and yanks it free with all her strength.

“It would have done that.”

 

* * *

 

**Author's Note:**

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>  Secret additional ending:
> 
>  **xxii.**  
>  Wanda’s hand is still sticky with grease and oil when she finds her brother at the church, and he only just notices her fading limp. 
> 
> “You’re alright?” he asks, his hand tucking her hair back behind her ear.
> 
> Wanda nods and smiles, and presses a kiss to the heel of her brother’s hand. 
> 
> “Let’s get clear,” she says. “For Ultron will not.”

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